One idea does most of the work here
You do not need a disaster plan with twelve tabs to get the important part right. You need one thing: a copy of your business files that lives somewhere other than your building.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommends what is generally known as the 3-2-1 rule for backups: keep at least three copies of your data, on at least two different types of media, with at least one copy stored off-site. The reason the off-site copy matters so much for a coastal business is simple. A local-only copy, whether it is a folder on your office computer, a drive plugged into that computer, or a server sitting in a back room, does not survive whatever happens to the building it is in. Wind, water, or a power surge that takes out your computer can take out everything connected to it at the same time.
Everything on this page is a practical extension of that one idea. If you only do one thing after reading this, make sure a current copy of your files exists somewhere that is not your office and not your house.
It is worth being precise about what "off-site" means, because a lot of setups look off-site without actually being off-site. A copy on a laptop you sometimes take home is off-site only when the laptop happens to be at home. A copy on a second computer in the same building is not off-site at all. The copy needs to live somewhere physically separate from your primary location on a normal basis, not occasionally, so that whatever happens to your building has no way to reach it.
Do this on a quiet day, well before you need it
The best time to check your backup is a normal Tuesday in June, not the weekend a storm shows up in the forecast. Once your area is under a watch or warning, your attention needs to go to your family, your property, and safety, not to troubleshooting a backup that turns out not to be working. Treat the checklist below as a once-a-season task, ideally early, so it is already done by the time it matters.
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Confirm the off-site copy actually exists, not just that "backups are running." A backup icon that says everything is fine is not the same as knowing your files are actually recoverable. Open your backup software or account and look at the date of the most recent completed backup and the list of what it covers. If you cannot find that information easily, that is worth fixing before anything else.
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Run a real test restore while you have power and internet. CISA's ransomware guidance is direct on this point: test your restores regularly, not just your backups. Pick a folder, restore it to a different location than the original, and open a few files to confirm they are intact and readable. Doing this now, on a calm day, means you already know the steps if you ever have to do it under pressure from somewhere else.
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Know where the installer and your account login live. If your computer is damaged, flooded, or simply inaccessible, you may need to set up your backup software on a borrowed laptop, a replacement computer, or a machine at a relative's house. Write down or store somewhere separate from your office: the download link for your backup software, your account email, and how you will get back into that account (password manager, or a way to reset it). If that information only exists on the computer that might be underwater, it does you no good.
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Back up before you evacuate, not after. If evacuation orders come, do not assume you will be able to get back into your building afterward to grab a drive or turn on a server. Treat "back up now" as part of your normal pre-evacuation routine, alongside the things you already do for your home and family.
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Do not count on the office external drive or the office server as your real protection. Both are almost certainly in the same building as any water, wind, or power damage that might occur. An external drive is a fine local copy to have (see our page on why an external drive is not a full backup for more on that), and an office server does real work day to day, but neither one is the off-site copy the 3-2-1 rule calls for. If your only copy of your files is in the building, you effectively have no backup for a local disaster.
What actually needs to be backed up
Most small businesses have a fairly short list of files that would genuinely hurt to lose. It is worth naming them specifically rather than trusting a vague sense that "the important stuff" is covered.
Money and operations
Accounting and QuickBooks files, payroll records, vendor and supplier documents, and current invoices and receivables. If you cannot bill customers or pay staff after a storm, recovery gets harder on every other front.
Customers and commitments
Customer and client records, active contracts, and quotes or proposals in progress. These are often the files that are hardest to reconstruct from memory or from someone else's records.
Proof of your work
Photos of completed jobs, project files, signed agreements, and any documentation that shows what you delivered and when. This matters for your own records regardless of what happens with a property claim.
Insurance and vendor documents
Copies of your own policies, vendor agreements, and account numbers for services you rely on. We are not offering insurance or claims advice here (see the note below), but having your own paperwork on hand, off-site, is simply good practice.
For a broader, non-seasonal checklist covering multiple machines and employees, see our small-business backup checklist. If ransomware or a locked-out account is more of a concern for your business than weather, the ransomware restore readiness guide walks through the same "can I actually get my files back" questions from a different angle.
If the worst happens: getting operational from somewhere else
We want to be direct about something here rather than vague: we cannot promise your internet will be up, that the power will be on, or how quickly any service, including ours, will be reachable during a widespread outage. Plan around that reality rather than around a promise nobody can honestly make.
What an off-site, cloud-based copy of your files does give you is the ability to get back to work as soon as you personally have power and a working internet connection again, wherever that happens to be. That might be a hotel room two counties away, a relative's house, or a coffee shop with a generator. If your files live in the cloud and you know your account login, you can sign in from a borrowed laptop or a replacement computer and start downloading what you need the moment you are back online, without waiting to physically return to your building.
That is the entire value of doing the prep work in the section above while things are calm. Nobody wants to be reading software instructions or resetting a forgotten password while also dealing with storm damage. Do the setup once, confirm it works, and then it is simply there when you need it.
FAQ
Can you tell me how likely my business is to reopen after a hurricane?
No, and we would rather say that plainly than repeat a statistic we cannot verify. There are widely circulated numbers about business closures after disasters that are not well sourced, so we do not use them. What we can speak to is narrower and more useful: whether your files are recoverable if your building is not accessible. That is a question you can answer for yourself with the checklist above.
Will Everyday Backups guarantee I can reach my files during a storm?
No. We cannot promise uptime, a recovery time, or that any online service will be reachable during a widespread power or internet outage, and we would not trust a claim like that from anyone else either. What a current, off-site, cloud backup does is make sure a recoverable copy of your files exists independent of your building, so you can get to it as soon as you personally have power and internet again, wherever you are.
Should I just keep a backup on a USB drive I take with me when I evacuate?
A drive you grab on your way out is genuinely useful and better than nothing, but it depends entirely on you remembering it, it being current as of the last time you copied files to it, and it physically surviving the trip with you. It is a good supplement, not a substitute for an off-site copy that updates on its own. See our page on why an external drive is not a full backup for the full reasoning.
Is this page giving insurance or legal advice about storm claims?
No. This page is about whether your business files, not your property, are recoverable after a local disaster. We are not an insurance provider, we do not advise on coverage, claims, or flood policies, and nothing here should be read as business-continuity or legal advice. For those questions, talk to your insurance agent and your attorney.
What is the 3-2-1 rule, and why does it matter for storms specifically?
It is the backup standard CISA recommends: keep at least three copies of your data, on at least two different types of media, with at least one of those copies off-site. For a storm-related disaster specifically, the off-site part is what matters most, because wind, flooding, or a power surge affects everything in one building at once. A second local copy, like an external drive, does not help if it is sitting next to the computer it backs up when the building is affected.
Does a cloud sync folder count as my off-site copy?
Sometimes, but not automatically. Sync tools keep a folder identical across your devices and the cloud, which means a deletion or a problem on one side can also propagate to the others. That is a different job than a backup, which is built to keep older, recoverable versions of your files on purpose. We cover the distinction in detail on our cloud sync vs. backup page. If you already use a sync tool, it may be doing part of the job; it is worth checking whether it is also keeping version history you can restore from.
When should I actually do this?
Now, or whenever you are reading this on an ordinary day. Hurricane season in the Gulf and along the Florida coast runs for months, and the useful window for checking your backup is the entire calm stretch before a storm is anywhere in the forecast, not the day or two beforehand when your attention needs to go elsewhere.
